Splitting machine



Aug. .16, 1927. 1,638,929

J. GOULDBOURN ET AL SPLIT-TING MACHINE l ned May 22. 1924 Patented Aug. 16, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH GOULDBOURN AND WILFRID THOMAS MINE'IT, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND; AS- SIQNORS TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JER- SEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SPLITTING MACHINE.

Application filed May 22, 1924, Serial No. 715,169, and in Great Britain June 19, 1923.

This invention relates to cutting machines and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine for operating upon soles which are to be incorporatedin boots and shoes.

In the manufacture of boots and shoes it desirable in some instances to split the heel end of sole in such manner as to form a thin flap which may be bent down and laid upon the breast of the heel of the finished shoe, for example when the shoe is to be provided with a- Louis heel. In other instances it is desirable to split a thin shaving from the heel end of the sole, an operation commonly known as fleshing the heel seat.

A splitting or skiving machine which has been used for performing both of the operations referred to above comprises a fixed knife and a pair of rolls for'feeding the sole to the knife, one or both of said rolls having a flattened portion so that during every revolution of the rolls a gap is produced between them. hen itis desired to produce a flap on the heel end ofthe sole, the rolls are first caused to come to rest with their curved portions adjacent to each other. A sole is presented heel end foremost to the rolls, which are then caused to rotate wherep by the sole is fed steadily to the knife until the gap is reached whereupon the rolls come to rest, the movement of the sole'ceases, and the sole is withdrawn from the machine by the operator. hen. on the other hand, it is desired totflesh the heel seat, the rolls are first brought to rest with the fiat portion or portions so located as to provide a gap between the rolls. The heel end of the sole is then presented to the machine from the knife side of the rolls to the desired extent. The subsequent rotation of the rolls causes the knife first to cut into the face of the sole and then to cut in a direction parallel to said face until it emerges from the rear edge of the sole. In this case, the rolls feed the sole out of the machine. Machines of the kind referred to above have either been manually operated, in which case the operator may rotate the rolls to the desired starting and stoppingpositions, or, where the machine has been power-operated, it has been necessary to adjust the rolls angularly by hand between operations in order to put the rolls into the proper starting position.

'ihe

n object of the present inven tion is to provide operator-controlled power operated means for bringing the operative mechanism of a machine to rest at will in one of two definite positions-a position for starting one kind of an operation upon a piece of work and a position for starting another kind of operation. The illustrated machine is a machine of the type referred to and comprises a knife and two feed rolls one of which is cut away, so that, when the cut-awayportion is adjacent to the other roll there is provided between the rolls a gap of greater extent than the thickness of the sole or other piece of work which is to be operated upon. The rolls are driven through a clutch, and the clutch is adapted tobe thrown in by depression of a treadle and to be thrown out by one or the other of two cams fast to a rotary member. By manipulating the treadle properly the operator may cause the desired cam to operate and may thus cause the feed rolls to come to rest in either of the two positions determined by the positions ofthe cams.

This and other features of the invention will be describedas embodied in an illustrative machine-and pointed outin the appended claims. p Referring now to the accompanying drawings. p

Fig. 1 is a front elevation partly in section, of a machine in which the present invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is'an end elevation of the machine, also partly in section;

Fig. dis a section on an enlarged scale showin'gthe mechanism in position to start the operation of'forming a flap on the heel end of a sole;

Fig. 4 is a section like Fig. 2 but showing the position of parts at the end of the flapforming, operation, and

Fig. 5 is a similar section showing the parts in position to start the heel seat fleshing operation.

Before proceeding to describe the machine in detail, a brief description of itsmode of operation will: be given. The machine comprises upper and lower feed rolls 2 and 3 and a stationary knife 4, the upper r011 being cut away as indicated at 32 to provide once in every revolution of the rolls a gap between the rolls the height of which greaieriihan the thickness of the sole or and to come to rest either in the posit-ion shown in Fig. 3 or in that shown in Figs. 4 and 5. If it is desired to form a flap on the sole, the rolls are first brought to rest in the position shown in Fig. 3. A sole 100 is then presented, heel end foremost, to the rolls, and the rolls rotated into and brought to rest in the position shown in Fig. 4 in which position the gap becomes effective, the feed movement ceases, and the sole is released and may be withdrawn by the operator. If it is desired to flesh the heel seat by removing a thin shaving from the heel end of the sole, the rolls are first brought to rest in the position shown in Fig. 5. The heel end of the sole is then thrust through the gap between the rolls from the knife side of the rolls, and the rolls caused to rotate. When this operation is being performed the rolls are permitted to make a complete revolution, the length of the shaving removed from the sole depending upon the extent of the sole which is thrust through the gap between the rolls. If desired an adjustable stop may be provided to determine this extent.

The lower roll 3 is pressed upwardly towards the upper roll 2 by two springs (one of which is shown at 5) and the upper roll is adjustable vertically in relation to, the knife edge by a horizontal bar 6 adjustable horizontally in the frame of the machine, by rotation of a hand wheel 7, said bar having on it inclined faces which co-operate with iclined faces formed on the bearings of the.

upper roll: shaft. The inclined faces are held together by light springs (not shown) urging the upper roll towards the bar. The lower roll can thus yield away from the knife but the upper roll cannot do so. The

upper roll 2 is driven by a gear 8 fast to its.

shaft and meshing with a pinion 9 on a shaft 10 which pinion meshes with a pinion on a driving shaft 11. The driving shaft 11 also has on it a'second pinion meshing with a gear 12 fast on the lower r-ol'l shaft The pinions and gears are so arranged that the speed of the rolls is equal and they are driven in opposite directions. The construction as thus far described except for the shape of the rolls and the cams 33 is old and well known in leather splitting machines and is or may be substantially the same as is shown for example in United States Patent No. 894,850, granted August 4, 1908 to Frederick J. Nash. It will be understood that the lower roll is pressed upwardly by the comparatively heavy springs 5 against adjustable stops so that its normal position may be varied, and that the upper roll is vertically adjustable and held rigidly from upward movement during the cutting operation.

Rotatably mounted on the shaft 11 is a pulley 14 driven from any suitable source of power. The pulley 14 is clutched to the shaft 11 by a clutch member 15 keyed to and slidingly mounted on the shaft 11. The clutch member 15 is moved into frictional engagement with the pulley 14 by a spring (not shown) to drive the machine and is moved in the opposite direction into engagement with a braking face on the machine frame to stop the machine. The clutch member has formed on it a groove 16 which receives blocks 17 p-ivotally mounted in forked arms of a lever 19 pivoted at 20 to the frame. The lever 19 has pivotally connected to its lower end an arm 21 having a shoulder 22 which is engaged by a plate 23 fixed on a cam lever 24 pivoted at 25 to the frame. The cam lever has at its upper end a cam roll 26 arranged in the path of two cams 27, 28 and held towards the cams by a spring 29 connected to the lever 24 and to the frame of the machine. The arm 21 is held up against the plate 23 by a spring 30 connected to the arm and to the frame and is connected to a tread le rod 53 by which it may be swung downwardly. The cam 27 is fixed to the gear 8, and the cam 28 is formed on an arm 29 pivotally mounted on the upper roll shaft so that the cam 28 may be adjusted about the axis of the upper roll and locked in position on said shaft by a nut 31. As has been explained above, the upper roll 2 has formed on it a flattened surface 32 while the lower roll is cylindrical for the whole of its length, and at opposite ends of both the upper and lower rolls are cams 33 so arranged that, when the cams are in engagement, the flat on the upper roll is facing downwards and the lower roll is depressed, as shown in Fig. 4. If these cams 33 are not present, it sometimes happens that, when the operation of forming a flap has been compl'etet las shown in Fig. 4, the lower rol'l moves up sufliciently to press the sole against the under side of the knife so that the sole is fed somewhat against the edge of the knife after the intended feed has ceased. This continued feed of the sole is undesirable since the distance through which the sole is so fed will vary with differences in material and the length of the flap will also vary. It may also happen that the sole may be drawn between the knife and the lower roll in such manner as to injure seriously or even spoil the sole. \V'hen the tread'le is depressed the arm 21 is swung downwardly withdrawing the shoulder 22 from engagement with the plate pulley 14 and into engagement with the braking surface on the frame and stops the machine. r

The cam 27 is so arranged that, when the machineis stopped by this cam, the rolls are in the position shown in Fig. 4, While the cam 28 is adjusted so as to cause stoppage of the machine with cylindrical portions of the rolls opposite to each other as shown in s Fig. 8.

In the use of the machine to split a sole end without actually completely severing the flap formed thereby, the machine is stopped with cylindrical portions of the rolls=opposite to each other, that is by the cam 28. The heel end of the sole is presented to the bite of the rolls and the treadle depressed, to close the clutch, and quickly released. WVhen the machine starts, the sole is fed to the knife until the machine is stopped by the cam 27 with the fiat'32 facing downwards and the rolls separated. The sole is then drawn back from off the knife, and the clutch closed to return the rolls tostarting position. The distance apart of the cams 27 and 28 controls the length ofthe flap formed on the sole. w

lVhen the machine is to be used for completely severing a flap from a sole or fleshing the heel seat, the machine is stopped by the cam 2'7 with the flat 32 facing downwardly and the rolls separated. The sole is then inserted, from the back of the machine, between the upper roll and upper face of the knife as shown in Fig. 5. The distance the heel end of the sole projects forwardly from the knife edgedetermines the length of flap removed. The treadle is then depressed to start the machine, and the rolls close on the sole so that, as the sole is fed back out of the machine, the knife digs into the face of the sole and the cut travels along within it until it comes out on the rear edge of the sole, having in this way completely severed a portion of the sole. When splitting soles in this latter manner the cam 28 is not required and may be swung about the axis of the upper roll into engagement with the trailing end of the cam 27, this end being recessed to receive the leadingend of the cam 28, or, alternatively, the treadle may be held down until the cam 28 has passed the cam r011 27, when the treadle is released.

Although the inventionhas been set forth as embodied in a particular machine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited in the scope of its application to. the particular machine which has been shown and described.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a tool, means for feeding a piece of work to the tool, said means being constructed and arranged to occupy two predetermined positions in one of which it is adapted when operated to start the feeding of the work immediately and in the other to start the feeding only after an interval, and operator-controlled means for causing the feeding means to occupy either position as may be desired.

2. A machine of the class described, having in combination, mechanism for operating upon a piece of work and perator-controlled power-operated means including two controlling members for bringing the operating mechanism to rest at will either in position to start the operation upon the work or to stop said operation, one of said members beirtg adjustable into a positibn in which it is inoperative.

3. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, a cutter, a pair of rolls for feeding the work to the cutter, said rolls being so shaped that there occurs between them during every revolution a gap of greater extent than the thickness of the work, and operator-controlled power-operated means for rotating the rolls and for stopping them either with the gap effective or not effective as may be desired.

4. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a cutter, means including a roll for feeding the work to the cutter, said roll having a cut-away portion and operator-controlled power-operated means for rotating the roll and for bringing it to rest at will either with its cut-away portion adjacent to the cutter or with said portion remote from the cutter.

5. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a cutter, a pair of rolls for feeding the work to the cutter, one of said rolls having a cut-away portion of such extent as to release the work when said portion is presented to the other roll, and operator-controlled power-operated means for rotating therolls and for bringing them to rest either in a position in which the cutaway portion of one roll is presented to the other roll or in a position in which the rolls are adapted to seize and feed the work.

6. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a cutter, means for feeding a blank to the cutter through adistance less than the length of the blank, and operator-controlled power-operated means for actuating the feed mechanism and for bringing it to rest in either of two positions from one of which it will operate, when again actuated, to feed the blank a given distance and from the other a greater distance.

"4'. A. machine adapted either to form a flap on a blank or cut a shaving therefrom, having in combination, a knife, a pair of rolls for feeding the blank to the knife, said rolls being constructed and arranged to provide between them during every revolution a gap of an extent greater than the thickness of the blank, and operator-controlled poweroperated means for rotating the rolls and for bringing them to rest at will either with the gap effective whereby a blank may be thrust through the knife side of the rolls or with the gap ineffective whereby a blank presented to the rolls from the side opposite that on which tl e knife is located will be seized immediately and fed until the gap becomes effective to release it.

8. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a cutter, a pair of rolls for feeding a blank to the cutter, said rolls being so shaped that there occurs between them during every revolution a gap of greater extent than the thickness of the blank, a clutch for applying power to the rolls to rotate them and a controller for the clutch, said controller having two cams thereon adapted one to stop the rotation of the rolls with the gap effective and the other to stop the rolls with the gap ineffective, and

' operator-controlled means for causing first one cam and then the other to throw out the clutch.

9. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a cutter, a pair of rolls forfeeding a blank to the cutter, said rolls being so shaped that there occurs between them during every revolution a gap of greater extent than the thickness of the blank, a clutch for applying power to the rolls to rotate them and a controller for the clutch, said controller having two cams thereon adapted one to stop the rotation of the rolls with the gap effective and the other to stop the rolls with the gap ineffective, operator-controlled means for causing first one cam and then the other to throw out the clutch, and means whereby the position of one of the cams may be varied.

10. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a single mechanism for operating upon a piece of work including a tool and means for feeding the work to the tool, and operator-controlled power-operated means for actuatingthe feeding means and for bringing it to rest in either of two positions, a position to permit one kind of an operation to be started and a position to permit another kind of an operation to be started.

11. A machine for operating upon shoe parts having, in combination, feeding mechanism, a cutter and operator-controlled power-operated means for operating the feeding mechanism and for bringing it to rest in either of two predetermined positions, a position to permit the cutter to start one kind of cutting operation and a position to permit the cutter to start another kind of cutting operation. I

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

JOSEPH GOULDBOURN. l/VILFRID THOMAS MINETT. 

